Washington State Bank celebrates 90th year of business

WASHINGTON — In April of 1932, perhaps the lowest year of the Great Depression, a group of 243 shareholders managed to pool around $100,000 to open the Washington State Bank.

“There were many closures the previous year and … there was a handful of people that thought that there needed to be a second bank in Washington at the time,” Washington State Bank President and CEO Sue Basten said. “It took about six months … it was $50,000 worth of stockholder shares and $50,000 worth of surplus.”

The bank has grown considerably since then. It’s expanded into the space of the former businesses that once neighbored it, and in 2015, opened branches in Fairfield and Columbus Junction. Today, Basten said the bank’s asset size was over $490 million.

A lot has changed in that time.

“The biggest change is everything is done electronically now,” said Margaret Stauffer, the bank’s longest-serving employee, who started over 50 years ago. “We did everything by pen and paper. We might have a machine like an adding machine, we could type stuff on cards and do our books that way, but everything was done by pen and paper.”

More recently, the bank has had to deal with the pandemic.

“We were providing PPP loans to people in the community, helping small businesses and small farmers,” Basten said. “Our people worked really hard on that. We’ve been able to provide really amazing customer service and do it with a very limited staff, our staffing has not grown much over the years.”

In a broader sense, Basten said she was proud of the bank’s culture. It remains community-owned — now with over 450 shareholders — nearly a century after its creation.

“Community banking is all about being able to serve your customers timely and being able to make those decisions,” she said. “You have more decision making ability at a community bank than you would at a corporate culture … The shareholders and the board are local, so it’s all about community and giving back.”

That point of pride is shared by others at the bank.

“Community banks are not only there to make money for their shareholders,” Bank Board Chair Rachel Nicola said. “They’re there to benefit the entire community, and that’s what we do.”

Basten said that focus on the community was the key to the bank’s longevity.

“Our people know you when you come in the door,” she said. “They know your children, they know your family, they know your history. You’re not just a number of an account, you are someone that we know … Anywhere you go, you can having a checking account or a savings account or a CD, but when you come in here, it’s the feeling of family and belonging.”

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